Frank Weber is the Chevy Volt E-Flex vehicle line engineer for GM. He is an earnest, forthright, and confident man who tells it like it is.
He gave us a 10 minute briefing about where the battery pack, mule, and design development is at the present time.
The video does not show the battery slide Frank refers to, but it appears as the graphic above.
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwTQEjtMtRc]
This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Volt Nation Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (12:41 am)One thing about Frank is that you quickly get the impression that he’s not about to let this project fail. That’s probably why they sent off all the way to Germany to get him.
Now for the $1.98 question. On the subject of the Volt’s bolt from 0-60, who is right…Frank @9sec or Lutz @7? I’m going to split the diff and say 8 based on a few known variables and some SWAG-ing.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (12:57 am)Lyle,
can we get access to the presentations of this show.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (1:13 am)WOW! Lyle, I got chills in my back when Frank Weber gave this introductory talk at the meeting …..and more chills hearing him again just now!!!
To your very insightful appraisal of Frank Weber, "an earnest, forthright, and confident man", I’ll be so bold as to add, "yes, and passionate ….reminding me of a man I knew & admired greatly long ago at the Marshall Space Flight Center". I couldn’t help but recall Dr. Werner von Braun when I first heard Frank Weber (Weber’s wonderful accent didn’t detract from the similitude!). Werner von Braun had that same incredible passion and that same incredible insight that we all heard Frank Weber express (no, EXUDE!) so clearly Wednesday night. It made me wonder if Frank, like Werner, might one day be regarded in retrospect as the "father of the GM Volt (US space) program" that was clearly a major first step in winning the world’s oil war (world’s cold war)!!! Weber’s an electrifying intellectual, as was von Braun, who shares von Braun’s vision & determination as well as his passion!*
*I noted this same passion & vision months ago in Bob Lutz, who might come to be known as the "grandfather of the GM Volt program"! …..who knows!?! Although I didn’t have a chance to talk to Frank Weber, I did tell Bob Lutz that his passion is contagious & the adrenalin flowing in his veins has obviously affected the entire Volt engineering & executive teams who came to NYC! (My daughter once gave me a custom tee shirt that says "Electrify an Engineer". …..Believe me, these engineers & designers are electrified and with that amount of obvious motivation there’s absolutely no way they can fail to pull off what Lutz has called GM’s "moon shot" successfully!!!)
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:11 am)Frank Weber – Future GM CEO.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:39 am)Awesome work Lyle. Thanks for making this happen.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:44 am)A little off topic but I just ordered the bumper sticker but we need a way to order more than one… i.e. there is no "quantity" box on the order form.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:57 am)From "leftlanenews", Lutz makes comments on Volt pricing. Not a rosy picture but he does state that with government incentives the price may be close to $30k.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/bob-lutz-saturn-vue-plug-in-chevrolet-volt-to-be-more-expensive-than-originally-thought.html
Mar 22nd, 2008 (7:20 am)BINGO #6
I knew it would come up at the show…the first question I asked on the Volt Nation thread for people coming back, which is here (from March 20th–first post)
–> http://www.gm-volt.com/2008/03/20/volt-nation-press-coverage-a-million-volts-gm-expects-to-lose-money-at-first/
Lutz->”I gave up on $30,000, but I haven’t given up on $40,000,” Lutz said. Lutz cited higher-than-expected battery prices for pushing the Volt’s price up by $10,000.”…”but it’s possible that the consumer could see a price closer to $30,000,” thanks to government incentives” Incentives that I must add…that exist only in his mind. There is no piece of legislation even close to doing this.
Thanks for the link mmcc! Thats a real piece of news from the show…although I wish it wasn’t.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (7:47 am)Statik @ 7 and others,
Any piece of legislation that we can all support for these tax credits? It may be a decent idea to cooperate with some of the national EV groups (plug-in America and such) and pick one bill to support. Who’s familiar?
Mar 22nd, 2008 (8:25 am)Lutz on Fox now 0720 mst
Mar 22nd, 2008 (8:26 am)DTV channel 359
Mar 22nd, 2008 (8:50 am)To view the video go to:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/video/index.html
Towards the bottom of the page, in the search box, type in Lutz and you can view the interview… Part 1 and 2.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (9:02 am)Thanks Scott B. I was hoping to see just about all of the GM Volt Nation meeting on video. I’m already looking forward to Volt Nation 2009. This Chevy Volt project is starting to look a bit like the Apollo program to the moon back in the 60s like in the movie "From the Earth to the Moon" I saw a few years ago.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120570/
2010 can’t get here fast enough. I bet GM gets a ton of good publicity from the media as the Volt gets closer to production. GM better do good planning on this project and make sure they’ve thought of everything good or bad that could happen.
I think the Volt is going to be GM’s flagship car for a good long time … a symbol of GM’s technological leadership …. something Bob Lutz can use to take a poke at Toyota about when he does his interviews.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (9:34 am)Frank wants to know what excites and what disappoints?
Well a 9 sec. 0-60 disappoints, and a 7 meets expectations.
Let individuals decide (as they do now) what "mileage" we get. If I want more range then I will putt-putt along. If I want some excitement then… it should be my choice!
Mar 22nd, 2008 (10:09 am)Another program that may interest some of you is on NOVA this weekend (PBS). The episode title is "Saved by the Sun." It may be a repeat, not sure, it’s dated 2007… All about solar energy. Turns out that Germany has a very aggressive solar energy initiative. If you install solar cells in Germany, the government will pay you $.50/KWH for the next 20 years for all the elctricity produced. They also show a solar array project in S California which uses reflectors to superheat a synthetic oil which in-turn produces steam to turn a turbine. You can actually see this array on Google Earth… search for Kramer Junction, CA. I have "fond" memories of this area because back in the early 70′s, my first assignment in the USAF was just north of Kramer Junction on HW 395… a little radar site called Boron Air Force Station… now a relic of the Cold War. I know, I know, TMI… TMI
Mar 22nd, 2008 (10:15 am)Frank Weber was very impressive. As far as I was concerned, from sitting in the audience, he was the star of the show. From this presentation to the questions after the meeting, he seems to have a real handle on what this car has to accomplish. Some people can get overwhelmed by responsibility of this magnitude but he seems completely in control. He is the right person to lead this. Could very well be a future GM CEO if this is pulled off as we expect.
As far as tax incentives goes, I do not believe there is any way the govt will let this car come to market without offering a tax incentive for early adopters. Particularily a new Democratic administration. Its a domestic solution, domestic jobs are at stake, its game changing. The govt will be falling over themselves lining up behind this car. Its just too early right now.
I’m telling you, when this car is within 6-10 months away, we’ll have several tax incentive bills to chose from and it would be suicidal for Congress not to support them . I just hope we will have had the opportunity to plop down some reserve money by then. Otherwise the rush to GM’s door will run us over.
Thats my take on what will happen.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (10:32 am)I saw "Saved by the Sun" and was very disapionted. I thought it was going to be about new solar technology and some of the solutions they are working on for the future. Instead half of the program was spend b**ching and whining about the problems of global warming. More of the Al Gore "we have to treat you like children and scare you before you will pay attention". Enough already. Let’s stop complaining and fix the problem! That’s why I like the Volt so much. It presents a solution to one part of the problem.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:28 am)I think that it was essential for an outsider to lead this effort within GM’s vehicle design groups. The same ole same ole just wasn’t ever going to get us there. GM needed a new face, with direct support from Lutz and Wagoner to break old cliques and start holding everyone accountable.
The best part of their approach is the constant push to aquire critical components and not only testing them, but integrating them into "mules" to evaluate their real effects within a system, and the effects of the system on the components. This approach quickly reveals all you need to know as early as possible, so many things can be worked in parallel.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:33 am)I have NEVER seen such passion from an automaker. They understand that E-Flex is the next logical step toward the full public acceptance of the electrification of the automobile!
They are actually listening to us. I get the impression that they are building the Volt for us. To free us from the pain & suffering and death that burning oil brings. To move us from the dark age of oil into the bright future of electricity.
Wow, it brings a tear of joy to my eye.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:35 am)As I understand it there is a current bill which would provide a $6000 credit for a Volt. It replaces language which was removed from the previous energy bill under threat of veto. I believe that it has passed at least the Senate, if not the House as well.
Of course, $6000 is not going to do it if the price continues to escalate. If the price keeps going up at the present rate, the !@#$% thing is going to cost what, 200K by 2011.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:56 am)That’s my fear, Noel. That it will be priced out of the budget of the masses and of any tax credits. We so need this car.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (12:21 pm)#19
If you are talking about the “Energy Tax Package” bill that gives tax breaks for plug-in hybrids that was passed by the house on the 28th…then I think you better give up…it is not expected to make it thru the Senate, and the white house has already said they will veto it.
–> http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/02/28/house-passes-energy-tax-bill-white-house-threatens-veto/
As of right not I know of zero initiatives to compensate consumers directly on future plug-in vehicles. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but right now, you better plan on paying the full tilt.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (12:53 pm)Two things:
I am sick of the “Global Warming” comments. The jury is still out. I want to be free from the constaints of OIL.
If a company can like Hybrid Technologies can take a Mini Cooper and convert it to pure electric and sell it for 57K. You would think GM could produce a car for much less.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (12:56 pm)#20 Rashiid Amul:
Yeah, well it is pretty discouraging. Even so, the trajectory of the Prius is instructive, if we can just have the patience to keep it in mind. At the beginning, especially of the second generation, the "early adopters" bid the prices up into the 30K range here in SoCal. There were also 6 months+ waiting lists. One of our friends put down a deposit in October of 2005, if memory serves (it might have been 2004), and got his car in May of the following year.
Now, they advertise new 2008s for $2000 off MSRP, and they are sitting on the dealers’ lots. How much of this is because people think that an improved model is coming out this fall, and how much because the "early adopter" pool is used up, I have no idea.
Somebody said yesterday that, if they only have 10,000 the first year, they can sell them all for $60K. Maybe. Lots of bloggers believe that the battery cost will drop off as computers have. I hope so. So maybe ordinary people are doomed to wait a few years until the technology is ubiquitous enough to get the price down to a reasonable level.
Our local paper reported yesterday the Suburau will soon be testing all electric prototypes in New York. The car is a 3 door, evidently about the size of a 3 door Yaris. Li batteries. 60 mi/charge. 80% charge in 15 minutes.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (1:44 pm)I just hope the next administration will be farsighted enough to make the electrification of the automobile a priority for our auto industry. What better solution do we really have right now? It’s time for our government to screw the "free trade" advocates and help subsidize our own struggling industries that are working on new and world changing technologies like the VOLT and other technologies like wind, solar, bio-fuels, etc. I would much rather see my tax money go to GM’s development team rather than support some foreign oil cartel. Something tells me with all the oil lobbyists in Washington it will be an up hill battle.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (1:45 pm)Until GM releases the final specs, interior and exterior pictures, service, warranty, and pricing information, we are really just yelling at ourselves.
I think it would be darn near impossible to give out a "hard" price of the car, if the design work has not been completed. And from what I have heard from these videos, they are not yet at the "design freeze" point.
GM is not going to price that car out of the market, but they are also not going to take a $15K loss on the sale of each vehicle either…. I would think that for the first year’s run of 10K vehicles, maybe a maximum loss of $5K per unit, while waiting for the battery suppliers to ramp up production and the the pricing down. But that is still a 50 Million dollar loss, which will be hard to get past the BOD & the stockholders….
Time will tell.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (1:46 pm)>> Yeah, well it is pretty discouraging. Even so, the trajectory of the Prius is instructive…
54,492 sales of Camry-Hybrid here last year should make you wonder if the big picture is truly being acknowledged.
It’s not all about Prius as countless posts here imply.
E-Flex, not Volt only.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (1:49 pm)$ 35 , 000 should buy 30 to 35 miles of electric range now . ( Prius / OEMtek ) . Wish we could track some down & get ‘ em to post periodically . Like to compare features / price and performance to Volt offering as 2010 approaches . That $ 35 , 000 figure may begin falling also .
Mar 22nd, 2008 (2:12 pm)#27 john1701a:
Yeah, that’s a very interesting number. I had no idea. Why then do you suppose that Honda gave up on the Accord hybrid? Is it just because consumers see Toyota’s system as that much better than Honda’s? Or is the mileage substantially better?
Shoot, that takes me back to my original idea of the real KISS. E-flex Cobalt. Forget building a whole new car, just the drivetrain.
Conventional wisdom is that the stand alone styling is what sells the Prius vs. the Civic hybrid. Even Honda has acknowledged that. Maybe it’s really just superior fuel economy. What a concept.
How about putting the current Malibu/Vue "soft" hybrid system in an Aveo and getting 40 mpg? All I want to do is drive a Chevy and save some !@##$ gas. Now.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (2:53 pm)Jason M. H. #18
I think you hit the nail right on the head. I had always wondered what the past 25+ years of mediocrity had done to the ways and means within GM. And if it’s still somewhat ingrained in the company, the last thing you want is it’s manifestation in the Volt. You are absolutely right, and I can’t imagine anyone better than Weber. Does anyone remember how well he handled the difficult PR situation with the crazy lady?
14 KenEE
I agree, and it’s why several times on this site I’ve suggested a two modes of operation for the Volt, economy and performance. Again we’re not talking about reinventing the wheel, just two different schedules for the potentiometer within the controller. For instance in economy mode it might have a schedule of 0-75V and in performance mode 0-320v or whatever works.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (3:01 pm)john1701a:
Of course you can buy a Camry hybrid in LA for under $22K, so that may have something to do with it too. The cheapest loss leader Prius I ever saw was about $18,999, while $19,999 has been more common. For a while they were advertising Camry hybrids for $21,800 or so. Of course, all of this tends to go away every time gas spikes up.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (3:54 pm)I don’t get it… they (GM) keep talking about this project being a big risk. What is the risk? The Volt doesn’t need ANY new technology (although that would make it better) to survive and even prosper. The battery technology they are using is certainly a step up but it isn’t needed. Put ONE battery from a prius in the volt and you already have a vehicle that gets better gas milage than the prius.
The li battery technology is about giving more and more range. I don’t need 40 miles all electric. Certainly more is better but lets assume it only had 12 instead. This would be a much cheaper car due to the smaller battery. And it would cut my work commute gas usage by more than half considering 1/2 would be on battery and the other half would be at a much better gas mileage than I get now.
Lets not forget that this car will be on par with the prius when it is running the gas engine!!!! Better than the prius when on gas and three times better when on battery power.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (4:14 pm)Grizzly, #30 "Does anyone remember how well he handled the difficult PR situation with the crazy lady?"
Grizzly, I think that crazy lady was a plant. I can’t find the video you are talking about, but I would swear I saw her at Volt Nation in a mini skirt. If I could find that video, I would know for sure.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (4:28 pm)Don’t forget we will have a new president next year. All we need is for someone to stand up before congress and tell them we are going to stop sending a trillion dollars to the middle east every year.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (4:51 pm)Rashiid,
For what reason would they have planted that?
Mar 22nd, 2008 (5:57 pm)Grizzly, I have no idea. I just kept thinking I saw the woman before, and the only place I could think of was in that video.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:08 pm)32# omegaman66
You may not needed, but other think it needed more then 40. Don’t forget that li battery may last ten years compare to other battery life. GM goal is to get ahead of Toyota, not a "another me to" car clone. GM have to think what the next 3 years would be like. Many cars are now jumping into li battery. I don’t care about the risk. That GM job to solve that problem. GM thinking is right on par. If GM want to be a leader. Then GM better taking risk or some company will get it and lead the market.
We have no idea how well the Volt and Prius in 2010. We well find out when it come out.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:10 pm)36# Rashiid Amul
Maybe it her sister.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:12 pm)Grizzly, it took me a while, but I found the video.
It is not the same lady. Sorry.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (6:38 pm)I thought I’d ask about the plant because IIRC there were a few others awhile back who thought the same thing.
I seem to remember a video of a GM exec being extremely rude during a Q &A at an auto show or some public event. Not sure who it was or whether or not that vid was legit, but I definitely saw it.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:32 pm)It’s interesting to think how little it might cost GM to subsidize the Volt. If it costs them $40k to build it, and they sell 10k at $35k, plus a government rebate of $5k, that costs the government and GM $50 million each. Both can afford that financial hit to establish this important vehicle.
Mar 22nd, 2008 (11:52 pm)The comments that claim "9 seconds is just too slow" really crack me up. Let’s put this in perspective: Next time you are driving a car that gets 40 MPG, time yourself in 0-60. Post back with your results. My Geo Prism gets 32 MPG and does 0-60 in 22 seconds… 9 seconds sounds pretty good for a car that gets 50 MPG! The Chevy CorVolt and the Amparo aren’t being designed yet. Version 1.0 is more a proof of concept and market building tool as a means to an end. It’s NOT the final product!
Mar 23rd, 2008 (7:15 am)The Volt in America will be a largely coal powered vehicle with a 20% nuclear booster. That’s for the eco-dogues.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (7:35 am)The thing that happens so often with legislation is it starts off as a single proposal, like a tax credit for those who purchase EV type vehicles. Somewhere along the line the legislation get changed and other legislation gets tacked on. Oftentimes it is legislation that could not possible pass on its own merits. Then end result is the original legislation gets vetoed. This happens all the time and it doesn’t matter who is in office.
I can only wonder if this website couldn’t somehow be instrumental in crafting tax credit legislation for EV/E-Flex/plug-in hybrid vehicles and then lobby to see it passed WITHOUT all the add-on legislation that would surely be proposed.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (8:09 am)41 Dan….
You say, "It’s interesting to think how little it might cost GM to subsidize the Volt. If it costs them $40k to build it, and they sell 10k at $35k, plus a government rebate of $5k, that costs the government and GM $50 million each. Both can afford that financial hit to establish this important vehicle."
I COMPLETELY AGREE, DAN!!! (And GM will also be amortizing much of the Volt’s non-recurring development cost over the Saturn Vue Plug-in, the Flextreme, and numerous E-REV vehicles to follow the Volt.)
Mar 23rd, 2008 (8:50 am)Shawn Marshall #43
And that’s much better than having millions of little power plants fouling the air, not maintained properly, many stripped of their pollution control equipment and not tuned up by their owners. Better to have dozens of power stations running, all equipped with pollution controls and meeting EPA mandates any day.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (8:51 am)where does one order the bumper sticker? Can’t find a link on the site here.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (10:32 am)Kevin R, #47.
Lyle does a good job of hiding it on the very busy home page.
I just found it myself. I have been wondering what happened to it and whether or not it could be purchased.
You can find the bumper sticker here:
http://www.gm-volt.com/bumper-sticker-and-magnet/
Mar 23rd, 2008 (10:59 am)"The Volt in America will be a largely coal powered vehicle with a 20% nuclear booster. That’s for the eco-dogues."
That’s just plain stupid. Coal in the US makes up barely 50% of electricity generation, and here in in CA there is a large and growing percentage of renewables.
My Volt (or Vue) will be powered by my roof anyway.
In the next 10 years you will have spent $40,000 on gasoline for your car (likely more, most of which goes to people who want to blow you up), while I will have spent about $1,000 for mine.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (11:29 am)30k pricing will effectively kill the Volt. It looks like a repeat of the EV1. I suppose oil executives are laughing so hard they’re falling off their gold thrones. The country is in a RECESSION. If Toyota offers the same car for 16 to 18k(as was originally propsed by GM) most people will buy it. It almost sounds as though someone high up in GM is working for ExxonMobile. Add to this the proposed "style" changes and what will result is an overpriced Prius.KEEP THE PRICE FOR THE VOLT BELOW $20,000!!!!!Otherwise initial sales will be abysmal and that will be the excuse for discontinuing the Volt.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (1:36 pm)Thank you, Shawn Marshall , for bringing up this often discussed topic. There is a lot of poor and misleading ideas and information on this subject and I want to make sure I’m not misunderstanding anything or basing my understanding in inaccurate information. The last thing I would want to do is provide inaccurate or misleading ideas to others that may influence them to make poor decisions, let alone the poor decisions it could lead me into.
Please visit the governments official website showing national electrical power source statistics for 1995-2006 (http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epates.html). According the this DOE site, in 2006 Coal accounted for 48.98% of the Net Generation Total and nuclear was 19.37%. In 1995 coal was 50.97% of net generation. Of the other roughly 31% left out of your analysis, about 20% is natural gas, 7% is Hydro, 2% is petroleum, 2% renewable.
Also from this DOE website:
"In 2006, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from conventional electric generation and combined heat and power plants declined. The largest reduction was in sulfur dioxide emissions, which fell 7.9 percent. It was the largest decline since the 9.2 percent reduction in 2000. Carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 2.2 percent and nitrogen oxides emissions were reduced by 4.1 percent." Additionally, and someone please correct me if I’m wrong, these electric generation statistics do not include home power generation (mostly solar and wind). So the actual power source for plug-in vehicles will be even cleaner than these statistics indicate.
Changes to capacity in 2006 reflect a decrease in Coal and significant increase in Natural Gas and renewables (http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat2p6.html). If you look at 2007 statistics and the power generation climate going forward, renewables and gas will continue have an accelerating percentage of the generation. So, coal production is a shrinking percentage of power generation and production is getting cleaner as old plants are retired or updated.
All this said, it really souldn’t matter for most people what the national electricity generation sources are. What matters, is each individual’s regional generation breakdown. There are a very few regions in the country that given TODAY’s breakdown, a plug-in like the Volt could have similar emissions to a vehicle like today’s Prius. Some components higher for one than the other. Without plugging-in the Prius or like vehicles are not getting much better with emissions and all other vehicles drop off from there. The grid in these worst emitting areas has the most potential for improvement.
I am neither a power generation expert nor an emissions expert Anyone that can add or correct my analysis, please do so.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (7:48 pm)Rashiid #48 thanks for the bumper sticker link. I just ordered one and will probably order a few more for some devoted friends.
Mar 23rd, 2008 (8:36 pm)#51 Koz
See the NRDC website. Essentially, pollution (SO2, CO, NOx) is reduced with cars like the Volt (controlled better at power plant than at individual car engines).
If all the electricity for the Volt came from the most inefficient coal plants, however, the CO2 emissions would be greater than that of a conventional hybrid at 45 mpg.
See the attached website.
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/
Mar 23rd, 2008 (8:50 pm)BillR
Absolutely, thank you for adding some emissions info.
Mar 24th, 2008 (5:46 am)Kevin R, %52, You’re welcome. I order one also and will most likely order a few more. Now, if we could also buy T-Shirts, that would be great.
Mar 24th, 2008 (11:46 am)Finally got a chance to watch this video. IMO, Frank Weber’s speech was just outstanding! What still boggles my mind is how there is still some people that harbor skepticism after over a year since the concept was introduced that this is not a real program.
Mar 24th, 2008 (1:02 pm)I can’t figure out What Bob Lutz is thinking from post #8 "Statik. Bob seems to say the battery cost is $10,000 more than we expected but last reference to battery cost was around $10,000. was Bob thinking A123 was going to give him the battery for free? Even if they had originally estimated $7,000.00, that is only 3 more grand not 8. The increase 8 grand in cost has not been justified based on battery cost. GM had to know what kind of battery testing they would have to do on the batteries before Bob made his now infamous "comfortably under $27,000.00" quote, so that was not the increase. Or are the batteries now being priced at $15,000.00 plus charging the customer up front to cover premature failures, IE the customer funding the insurance policy instead of the company taking reasonable risk based on sound engineering? If I buy a Prius Plug in & retro fit a $10,000 16KWh Lithium Ion battery into it I get $32,000. But I think I figured it out, They need an extra 5 g’s profit up front to cover losses from long term maintenance that won’t be needed. I’d rather pay GM than some terrorist hatching country. Just give it to us straight Bob like you always do, the customer will save 5 G’s in maint. over the life so GM is collecting it up front, the customer will keep most profit from gas savings. That I can live with and the cost is justified. We know GM is in business to make money and not a charity so level with us, we are smoking from the pipe you think! And the battery cost excuse don’t cut it!
Mar 24th, 2008 (1:05 pm)Should have ended,"we are not smoking from the pipe you think!"
Mar 24th, 2008 (1:37 pm)Methinks that if GM & Lutz want the government to provide tax incentives to help sell the Volt, they better put a bug in the ear of our "Great & Clueless Leader". (‘What? $4 a gallon for gas? I wasn’t aware of that!’). They really need him to not veto it.
Mar 24th, 2008 (2:08 pm)I doubt if GM would hold much sway to GW’s administration policy decisions. He’s a tool of the oil cartel, not the automotive, unless there’s a convergence of corporate interests.
Sep 14th, 2008 (8:19 pm)I hate to inject politics and I won’t do it again, but:
Senator McCain has voted against the extension of the tax breaks for alternative and renewable energy systems and either been absent or voted against all other alternative and renewable energy bills. (Absence counts as a no vote)
Senator Obama has voted for them and pledged to continue to do so.
Draw your own conclusions.